Sunday, April 26, 2015

Edit: the end of Whole30. I kept it up! For the most part. Toward the end I was getting headaches every single afternoon :( I was also kinda grumpy? I did a little research and found a *possible* link could be lack of grains = lack of certain B vitamins = possible seratonin imbalance? I'm not a scientist or nutritionist, but I felt something wasn't right. I wasn't taking a multivitamin either, so on Day 27 I reintroduced rice. I had these rice cakes, which also contained quinoa, and I felt a lot better. I ate them for a couple days and no headaches! And less grumpiness (maybe).

I never did get this sudden "burst of energy"/ " tiger blood" thing people talk about. I did get the headaches, which made me tired, if anything. So if I went longer than 30 days, would the headaches have stopped? Would I have gotten the tiger blood? Do I just need some form of grains in my life? .....I have no idea. I kind of want to find out. But I also kind of want to chill out over stressing about every food choice for a little while.

Doing this at home was very easy, honestly. But going out at all SUCKED. And eating clean and then reintroducing too much not clean also sucked more than anything else. I want a sustainable day of eating. Maybe that means clean but not too clean....

Day 7:
Lovely breakfast out with my husband: omelette with mushrooms, green onion, and spinach, tropical fruits salad: mango, cucumber, tomato, cilantro, lime
Lunch: cashew cookie Lara bar (iSuck) and an apple
Dinner: 2 bowls of the soup I made on Day 1

Day 8 & 9- I was out of town, and I planned ahead (somewhat), but I don't feel like I ate "great." I spent almost all day both days in and out of my car. What did I plan ahead? I boiled 4 eggs the night before I left, so I had 2 of those each day. I also prepared a salad with tofu for lunch the first day, and then had a salad for dinner that night (that I ordered from a local place), so that wasn't too bad. But I should have brought more fresh fruits and veggies with me than I did, so I ended up very hungry and eating a lara bar both days. I guess those are supposed to be FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY but whatevs, they were compliant, so it wasn't like I did something to make myself have to start all over. Lessons learned- the eggs were a great thing to bring along, next time I should bring more snacky veggies I can eat easily in the car- like sliced cucumbers, bell peppers, grape tomatoes, duh.

Day 10: Cinco de Mayo! I made a huge plate of Huevos Rencheros (with no cheese... just eggs, veggies, spices) for a big late lunch. For dinner, we had a big salad that John made.

Day 11: I needed to do some shopping, so
breakfast was grates and coconut flakes,
lunch was an apple, a banana, and almond butter. You'd think by now I would be better at incorporating veggies into my meals! So tonight while I make
dinner (Thug Kitchen Lentil Lettuce Wraps), I plan to also fix a frittata and tofu to keep around for breakfast and lunches. Meal prep is a good thing.

Feels:
Sometimes I ate bananas with almond butter for dessert when my dinner had little or no fat. Or if I was still hungry.
Day 6 was the only day I sort of had any feels, I woke up very tired and had major baggage under my eyes. But as the day went on, I felt normal. I've felt "normal" this whole time. Not bad by any means, but not OMGSOMUCHENERGY either. That will probably come. But I haven't had the mood swings or insane cravings. I was thinking about toast with butter a couple of days ago, and have thought about a few other things. Not even sure I'd call those feelings actual cravings or just thoughts, since they go away quickly.
Day 7: Either the portobello mushrooms or the chili seems to be making some stomach upset happen :( The chili was WAY spicier than I usually make it, so it may just be that.

For the filling: Chop the onion and sauté it a few minutes, then add the spices and cook til it's translucent. Add the beans and cook a little longer.

For the quinoa: Statue the garlic a bit, then add the coconut oil and (rinsed) quinoa until it smells toasty, then add the veggie broth and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook 20-25 mins. Add cilantro and parsley while it cooks, to your taste. Add the lime juice about 5 minutes before its done.

Prepare the peppers:
Slit peppers. Broil peppers until slightly charred.
Remove and put in a covered dish for about 20 minutes.
Peel the skins from the peppers and remove the seeds.

While the peppers are cooking/cooling:
Cook the rice in the veggie broth. Add tomatoes and spices.
Add some cheese into the mixture, then stuff the peppers.
Top with more cheese. (It all depends on how much cheese you like...)
Bake at 400 degrees until the cheese is melted.

1. In a skillet, simmer the onion and potato in a splash of veggie broth until the onion is translucent, 5-10 mins.
2. While that's heating up, chop the florets of the broccoli from the stems, into about 1" pieces. Chop up some of the stem into small pieces, too. Steam the broccoli pieces until it's al dente, about 4 mins in the microwave.
3. Add a handful or two of peas to the onion and potato mixture, then add the broccoli and stir it together to incorporate.
4. Make the sauce: In a separate small sauce pan over medium heat, heat the milk (I used coconut milk) and whisk in the flour until it thickens- it won't take long. Be sure to whisk constantly. If it's not thickening or doesn't seem hot enough, increase the heat.
5. Place one of your pie crusts in the bottom of your pie dish.
6. Add half of the broccoli mixture into the pie pan, then sprinkle cheddar cheese in a thin layer on top of the mixture.
7. Add the sauce to the remaining broccoli mixture (or add the broccoli mixture to the sauce if the sauce pan is big enough!), mix it all up, then add all of that into the crust.
8. Add another thin layer of cheddar cheese on top of all of that.
9. Top with the remaining pie crust, pinch the edges together, and cut a few slits in the top for ventilation.
10. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the top crust looks nice and done.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I have to confess, I am not even sure the pink Starbursts (in the traditional pack, I think there were red, orange, yellow, and pink in there, but they've got all kinds of themed packs/flavors now) are strawberry flavored? Maybe they were strawberry-lemonade? Whatever. Almost everyone I knew when I was a kid liked the pink ones best, followed closely by red, and wished they sold packs of JUST the pink ones.

A 2nd confession, I haven't eaten a Starburst in years, as I'm just not really into fruity candy, and I also tend to avoid things of that consistency to avoid ripping out expensiveass dental work.

But when I made this smoothie a few weeks ago (and again today) and sipped it for the first time, I immediately remembered Pink Starburst! So here you go- end of the indulgent reminiscing and reasoning for the smoothie maybe not tasting EXACTLY like a pink Starburst; you've been warned.

PINK STARBURST SMOOTHIE

1/2 - 3/4 cup water
2 big handfuls of spinach

1/2 scoop Vega vanilla flavored nutritional shake powder

1 banana
Some squeezes of lemon juice
3 handfuls of strawberries with the tops on (unless the tops are crunchy/dried up)
2 handfuls of frozen grapes

Yeah, I know, none of these measurements are exact. You can taste as you go and add more of things as you please- I don't measure when I make a smoothie, I just try not to overflow my blender cup.

In a hand blender: Add the water, spinach, Vega, banana, and lemon juice. Blend it up!
Add a few of the strawberries and blend, a few more, blend, etc. until you've added all of the strawberries.
Then add the frozen grapes and blend again.
You can use frozen strawberries, depending on how cold you want it.

If you're into fruit water, you can soak strawberries and lemons together, and when you're done drinking the water, use the strawberries (and squeeze the lemons) from the fruit water into this. That's how I made it the first time, but I get that not everyone has that just sitting around ;)

Cook and drain pasta.
While you're waiting for the water to boil and/or cooking the pasta, dice the roma tomatoes into chunks- a little bigger than you would for salsa. Thinly slice/shred the baby spinach. Cut the string cheeses up into little cubes, about 1/2".

Add the drained pasta to a big bowl.
Add the pasta sauce- it's up to you how much. How saucy do you want it?
Add the baby spinach, tomatoes, string cheese pieces, and 2 handfuls of the parmesan cheese. Mix that up well, then dump into a greased 9x13 dish (or a pretty deep 9x9 dish).
Cover with provologne slices, then sprinkle the last 2 handfuls of parmesan cheese over the top.

Cover this with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Check the pasta mix near the end; uncover for a little while if it seems too liquidy.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I thought by now I would be getting sick of smoothies TWICE a day. Believe it or not, I still look forward to them. Probably because they are always easy and almost always very tasty. And even with 2 scoops of protein powder per smoothie twice a day, I'm more than halfway through the 30 Days to Feeling Fit and still on my first bag. I still have lots of powder left and lots of smoothies in my future.

Directions:
I do this in a hand blender with a stainless steel cup....
1. Add water, Arbonne powders, spinach, bee pollen, orange extract, and OJ (or extract + extra water if you're using that) and blend.
2. Add the frozen grapes and blend.
3. Add the cantaloupe and blend, and let it go for a minute or two even after you don't see chunks- just to get it as smooth as possible.

This one is definitely a keeper and one of my favorites! And I'm not even really a fan of cantaloupe. I bet this would be good with a carrot mixed in, too.